Zawe Ashton Quotes

Actors have an unusual perspective on clothing. You've really got to know the impact of what you're wearing on the character you're playing.

I know a lot of actors talk about the importance of wardrobe, and it always seems like it's kind of a cop-out, maybe, because it seems like a minor detail to some people. But I think it's hugely important.

My motto is that the audience should notice the actors, not the clothes.

I think a film is a failure if it doesn't have an emotional effect. That's the film's failure. Not if it doesn't deliver a message, but if it doesn't have emotional effect or visceral effect.

I'm very much into the costuming of any character that I portray and it's one of the great things about making movies is it's a collaborative art form so you get all these artists who are looking specifically about for this instance your character's costume and what that might tell about your character.

Costume, hair and makeup can tell you instantly, or at least give you a larger perception of who a character is. It's the first impression that you have of the character before they open their mouth, so it really does establish who they are.

I'll say, what makes me happy about making movies is, every once in a while through movies we find a kind of honesty. There's an honesty in fiction that's as effective or even more powerful than the honesty of our lives. We can find something that's genuinely true, like a chemistry between people or a statement that speaks to an audience.

Costumes are the first impression that you have of the character before they open their mouth-it really does establish who they are.

In every movie, there's always some physical thing that triggers the character for me. In 'The Long Walk Home,' it was the girdle. Every time I'd put that girdle on, I'd feel my character wiggle to life.

Most actors will tell you this - I don't really know how to connect, empathize with, or make worthy of any revelation a character that doesn't have love in there somewhere, that doesn't have an idealism or an empathy in there somewhere.

I love exploring the characters that I play, but the reason I sign on for something isn't the details of the story but the universal message.

Certain characters get to me and stay with me for a while.

Storytelling is powerful; film particularly. We can know a lot of things intellectually, but humans really live on storytelling. Primarily with ourselves; we're all stories of our own narrative.

I think plot is very overrated. Plot is obviously necessary, but what I really care about is emotionally affecting the audience. Having a thought myself and then an emotional experience myself, somehow transferring that to the audience.

I can't just go in and throw clothes at a picture. I still have to have some kind of an idea of a character, of who she is, where she's from. It's almost like playing a child's game. You have your dolls, and you create characters for them. Fashion indulged that in me.

I think finding a character starts in hair and makeup, fitting room. That's where it all kind of falls into place.

If a reader comes across a story that makes them cry, you can be sure that the writer felt every single thing that makes the reader cry.

We used to go to movies to see stories about ourselves. It would transport us to new worlds and we'd see aspects of ourselves reflected back.

I'm focused on finding characters I connect to.

I tend to find that movies have become so slick that I have trouble identifying with the characters.

If the reader doesn't care or relate to the characters, all that visual spectacle is pretty but feels empty.

I've often been asked why my shot-taking is not stylish, why I don't think about visual statements. The truth is, style is irrelevant. I never think of the shot as much as I think of the characters and what they are saying and doing.

What happens with a good score is, somehow the composer manages to cast himself or herself in the role of the protagonist. And then you write from their perspective.

Eventually, when I got the 'Meadowland' script, I saw something in it that made me think I could make something special out of it, something that could work with my style. Emotionally, I connected to it. I thought, 'If I feel this way just imagining it, maybe we can make that happen on screen and make people feel something when they watch it.'

On-screen wardrobes are important. They help create an overall aura, and with local productions being viewed all around the globe, they represent our aesthetics to the world.